The present invention relates to apparatus for conducting and scoring non-lethal cock fights and, more specifically, to special apparatus for attachment to the legs of fighting cocks and electronic means for implementing such apparatus to provide a novel and improved scoring system.
Cock fighting is an ancient sport in which male birds having very strong combative instincts are encouraged to attack one another, using as weapons either the spurs which grow naturally from the backs of their legs or metal barbs or other such spur substitutes. In any case, the winner is usually determined by either killing or injuring the opponent so severely that the fight cannot continue. Accordingly, the sport has been outlawed in many parts of the modern world.
Means have been proposed for conducting cock fights in a non-lethal manner, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,786, for example. However, such means do not accurately reflect the actual outcome of the same fight conducted with actual or artificial spurs, since there is no way to distinguish the direction or force of blows struck. Other means incorporating force-indicating means have been employed for scoring human boxing matches, but these are unsuitable for use in cock fighting applications; furthermore, such systems are not limited to actuation by blows struck along only a single axis.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide novel and improved apparatus for conducting and scoring cock fighting matches.
A further object is to provide apparatus for non-lethal cock fighting which discriminates among various forces of blows delivered by the combatants.
Another object is to provide apparatus for automatically scoring a non-lethal cock fight which registers points only in response to blows delivered substantially along the axis of the natural spur.
Other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.